Despite the high costs of the War on Terror, heavy consumer borrowing, and a recovery in the economy, new bond issues have been falling since 2003, as the graph shows. The four main segments of the bond market are Treasury securities (Table F209), agency securities (Table 210), municipals (Table F211), and corporate and foreign bonds […]

At least since 2003, the issuance of corporate bonds has been falling, while demand has increased, forcing buyers, on balance, to go into the secondary market to fill purchase orders for this type of fixed-income security. (See Flow of Funds Table F212, Corporate and Foreign Bonds) The graph shows that net purchases of corporate bonds […]

Net issues of corporate and foreign bonds held steady during Q3 2005, thereby prolonging a three-year flat trend in corporate bond issuance. (See Flow of Funds Table F212 Corporate and Foreign Bond.) The failure of corporate bond issuance to increase with U.S. economic recovery explains, in part, the flatness of the bond yield curve. […]